Commutation-ticket.



B. E. WILSON.

COMMUTATION TICKEL APPLICATION FILED MAR. H. 1917.

1,%3% @7? Patented July 10, 1917. I

. HWS e NEW YORK STATE RA\LWAYS- ROCHESTER LINES 54-- COMMUTATION BOOK Fm Pimsoum. van or m indimhui.

AGENT STUB "54TRIP COMMUTATION BOOK 5 STUB S4-- 6" lssusn'm 7 Isswm'm WITNESSES:

M/VEIVTUR BER'IRAM E. WILSON, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

COMMUTATION-TICKET.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented July It), 191?.

Application filed. March 17, 1917. Serial No. 155,444.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERTRAM E. WILSON, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Commutation-Tickets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formm a part of this specification, and to the re erence characters marked thereon.

My present invention relates to railway tickets and especially to that class known as commutation tickets furnished by transportation companies to passengers desiring to travel regularly between two certain stations on the railway line during a specified period of time, and it has for 1ts object to provide a series of such tickets in the form of coupons bound in book form, the cover and coupons being similarly printed with the necessary data, so that the station agent may by punching through the book, simultaneously indicate the station points and the limiting dates during "which the coupons must be used, and at the same time, provide stubs which are used by the station agent in making his returns to the auditing department of the railway system. To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view of the upper side of a ticket booklet embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the agents stub detached;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the auditors stub, and

Fig. 4 is a. view of one of the trip coupons.

Similar reference characters throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

In the handling of commutation tickets which are used largely on interurban lines of both steam and electric railways, a great deal of inconvenience is caused the station agents owing to the length of time which is required to make out a ticket, or series of tickets, covering a given period of time, for instance, one month, because of the record it is necessary to prepare, whereby the auditing department may check the number of such tickets which are sold and also the .columns at the sides of the number of tickets or coupons which are used during the time indicated. Then too, it frequently happens, especially where the monthly system of issuing such tickets is adopted that a large number of passengers usually demand new tickets at about the same hour of the day, and usually within a few moments of the time set for the departure of trains, all of which indicates the desirability of providing a ticket of this character which may be handled quickly by the station agent and without the necessity of making any entries other than those which he can accomplish by means of the usual ticket dating stamp and ticket punch. These objects of my invention are carried out by making each page of the book a separate coupon which is similarly printed, the first two being utilized as the agents and auditors stubs, while the remaining coupons constitute trip tickets and are numbered consecutively, these numbers corresponding to the days of the month, where the book is issued as a monthly commutation ticket, or for a greater number such as fiftyfour, or other arbitrary number which may be deemed desirable by a particular railway system.

In illustrating my invention I have showna commutation ticket booklet in which the cover 1, as shown in Fig. 1, has printed thereon the names of the various stations along the line, said station names being preferably printed successively in parallel cover, as indicated by 2 and 3. These columns are so disposed that punch mark indications, such as the dots 5, may be positioned suficiently close to the side edges of the book to enable the latter to be inserted between the jaws of the usual ticket punch, but removed from the edges sufiiciently so that the punch marks may not break through and leave the edge of the book rough and irregular, or cause it to become frayed from use. At the free end or edge of the cover appears a calendar composed of abbreviations of the months of the year, indicated by 8, and numerals indicated by 9, representing the days of the month. The calendar also comprises numerals covering a period of consecutive years which are preferably located between the month calendar and the ends of the columns containing the station names.

The several pages of the book contain the printed matter which I have just described as being applied to the cover and said pages are assembled in reference to the cover so that each name, numeral .or abbreviation on all of the pages and cover are in direct alinement, to the end that when aperforation is made through the book it will indicate thev same on each of the inclosed coupons. Thus, it is assured that the punch marks opposite station names indicating the limit between which the coupons or tickets will be accepted, and the punch marks indicating the dates between Which said coupons are to be used may be in exact ac-- shown in Fig. 4, these numbers in a fiftyfour trip book running from one four, as will be understood.

Bound in with the coupons in each book, in addition to those which are numbered consecutively and serve as trip tickets, are two coupons, preferably the first two pages of the book, which comprise the agents stub 6, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and the auditors stub 7, as shown in Fig. 3.

If desired, the name of the person to I whom the book is issued may be written in the central portion of the stub coupons following the words Issued to, and a similar space is provided on the cover of the book. Any special instructions desired may beprinted on the coupons as indicated by the words on the several figures, those on the agents stub directing him' to detach and forward it with his ticket report to the auditor of the railway company, and'those on the auditors stub instructing the conductor to detach and forward it to said auditor, with the first ticket coupon lifted for the first trip.

In practice it is intended that the ticket agent shall apply his dating stamp to the under side of the cover of the book and to the two stubs. c

When the commutation ticket booklet is issued by a ticket agent he may fill in the name of the purchaser on the cover and the agents and auditors stubs and punch through the booklet at the dots 5, adjacent the names of the stations between which transportation is desired, and also through the calendar indications for the day, month and year, to indicate the limiting date beyond which the tickets will be void. In doing this the same designation is made on every coupon within the cover. The ticket agent then removes the first coupon or agents stub and forwards it to the auditor with his ticket report. The second coupon or auditors stub is removed, together with the first trip coupon, by the conductor when the booklet is presented by the passenger for his first trip, and is forwarded by the conductor to the auditor with his 7 other collections. A commutation ticket booklet, in the form described, .provides a ticket that may be issued rapidly with the possibility of inaccuracy reduced to a minimum; also a ticket that is quickly and easily read, one which may be used in traveling in either direction between the stations and which aifords a railway company protection against dishonesty or misuse of the ticket by its patrons.

I claim as my invention:

1. A commutation ticket book comprising a series of coupons, each provided with station and date indications and a cover overlying the coupons also provided on its exterior with station and date indications similar to and registering with those on each coupon whereby the coupons and cover may be punched at one operation and the same record eifected on the cover and on each coupon.

2. In a commutation ticket book, the combination with a series of trip coupons and agents and auditors coupons, each coupon being provided with indications for a plurality of stations and a calendar, of a cover overlying the coupons inclosmg said coupons and provided on its exterlor with the same station and date indications appearing on the coupons and bound in registration with those on the coupons, whereby the coupons and cover may be punched at one operation and the same record effected onthe cover and on each coupon.

BERTRAM- E. WILSON. 

